VIRDEN, Man. – A faxed appeal urging farmers to attend a court case here to serve as watchdogs for the defence didn’t appear to impress the judge presiding over the case.
Farmers for Justice, a loose coalition of farmers fighting the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly, sent a fax to many farmers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan asking them to attend a trial of two Manitoba grain producers charged last year with hauling cereals across the U.S./Canada border without a wheat board permit.
On the first day of the trial few spectators were present at the hearing. The second day, after the fax plea, the courtroom was packed.
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The faxed appeal to farmers to act as witnesses called into question the actions of Judge David Coppleman on the first day of the proceedings.
“The judge appears to be ignoring important defense information and going along with the prosecution’s suggestions since there is no one else there to watch his actions.
“We need as many farmers and other supporters to attend this trial otherwise there is severe danger that the judge will ignore the defense’s evidence and accept without question the crown’s arguments,” reads the fax.
Law is the law
But on the second day of the trial, Coppleman didn’t find many defence arguments, made by Dan Creighton, agent for the two farmers, that would affect his decisions.
Creighton argued the issue before the Manitoba court was one of an illegal international trade agreement regarding the movement of barley between the U.S. and Canada.
The judge pointed out the agreement and the regulations were in place at the time the defendants broke the law and that was the issue he would decide.
“I don’t know what court you’ll have to go to, to pursue your other issue…. It is an international trade issue and beyond this court to decide,” said Coppleman.
Creighton, a Saskatoon resident who is not a lawyer, told the court that beyond the trade issues, the two men were not guilty because the federal government had failed to annually renew an order in council that supported barley marketing under the Canadian Wheat Board. He also applied a similar argument to the rights of the wheat board to provide export licenses for cereal grains.
Coppleman said these issues were better served in the federal courts.
Creighton also suggested the RCMP had overstepped its powers and the terms of a search warrant when dealing with paperwork seized from the home of Andy McMechan. The judge indicated he was not initially impressed with the argument.
Creighton plans to launch a constitutional challenge on the rights of the Canadian Wheat Board to enforce its export monopoly.
McMechan and Bill Cairns, the other farmer charged, each face two individual and two joint charges under the Canada Customs Act for exporting without a permit.
As well, they are charged with obstruction of justice and for failing to appear in court.
